Watermelon Greening of Virginia
By David Schnare • Jun 30th, 2009 • Category: EnvironmentOn June 10th, the Governor issued an executive order entitled the “Greening of State Government.” See the Press Release for an abstract of this order. It is a “watermelon” order, meaning it is green on the outside and red on the inside. On its face, the Governor has expanded his direction to state government to tighten their energy belt.
Reducing energy use is good if it reflects getting the same work out of less energy. Just cutting energy use, however, usually means just reducing productivity. The order is a mixture of do less and do better with less.
Beneath the green exterior, however, are some elements that only mean more red ink. For example, any new construction or major renovation requires the buildings to conform to LEED silver or Green Globes two-globe standards, unless an exemption from such standards is granted upon a written finding of special circumstances that make construction to the standards impracticable.
While the Green Globes standards are usually cost-efficient, LEEDs silver standards often are not. One wonders if the special circumstances that allow an exception include budget shortfalls or plain old cost-inefficiency. If cost can’t be fully considered in these decisions, the Order is more for red ink than green government.
The same applies to procurement of diesel fuel containing at least two percent biodiesel fuel or green diesel fuel. By many standards, these fuels have larger carbon footprints than the lower cost diesel, and they cost more. They are red ink fuels with at most a light green patina.
If we were an energy exporting state (think off-shore oil and gas), we could amass sufficient wealth to afford these kind of luxuries. We aren’t.
Further, if reducing the state’s carbon footprint by this tiny amount were likely to make a meaningful contribution to reaching climate change alarmists’ greenhouse gas reduction goals, arguably these red ink actions might be sensible. Based on a Financial Times report showing China refuses to reduce its carbon footprint, any efforts by Virginia to reduce our footprint have but one effect – we sacrifice state dollars for no environmental gain whatever. For a brief explanation on why this is true, see Virginia and Climate Change.
For a longer report on Virginia and climate change, take a look at the Science and Public Policy Institute’s state level analysis on this issue. A couple of highlights from that report include:
- Natural year-to-year and decade-to-decade scale variations dominate Virginia’s temperature, precipitation and drought history. Averaged across the state of Virginia, there has been no statistically significant long-term trend in the state’s annual temperature history, nor in precipitation and drought, since 1895.
- If Virginia were to immediately cease all carbon dioxide emission, now and forever, the rate of year-over-year growth in global carbon dioxide emissions (primarily fueled by massive emissions increases in China and India) would completely subsume Virginia’s contribution in less than two months’ time. China alone adds four Virginias-worth of new carbon emissions to its total emissions each and every year.
- Governor Kaine’s call for a partial reduction of Virginia’s greenhouse gas emissions will have absolutely no effect on global or local climate, global temperature or sea level.
While it is the season for watermelon, it is never the time for watermelon environmental politics.
David Schnare serves (pro bono) as the Director of the Center for Environmental Stewardship at the Thomas Jefferson Institute, Virginia’s premier independent public policy foundation. He is a Senior Attorney and Environmental Scientist in the Office of Regulatory Compliance at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He holds an appointment to the Environmental Quality Advisory Council of Fairfax County, the largest urban county in the nation. He is CEO of Schnare and Associates, Inc., a professional corporation providing legal representation, legal and policy analysis and is Chairman of the Environmental and Land Use Committee of the Occoquan Watershed Coalition, an organization of 143 homeowners associations in western Fairfax County, Virginia.
Bringing his “balanced” environmental views to his community, Dr. Schnare Co-Chaired the Occoquan Watershed Task Force, a group appointed by the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to make a thorough assessment on the status of the watershed and to make recommendation on how to ensure its continued protection.
Dr. Schnare’s honors include: Two Gold and four Bronze Medals from the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Vice President’s Hammer Award and multiple U.S. Department of Justice Certificates of Commendation. His academic achievements include Law Review at George Mason University School of Law; Inns of Court (GMUSL); Sigma Xi (Science Honorary); Delta Omega Service Award (Public Health Honorary); National Science Foundation Research Fellowship; LEGIS Fellowship; and the U.S. Public Health Fellowship. He is an Honorary Member of the Water Quality Association.
Dr. Schnare earned his JD in 1999 from George Mason University School of Law. While attending law school (and working full-time at EPA) he was the Hogan (Environmental) Essay winner and served on the Law Review and the Inns of Court. He graduated Cum Laude (Order of the Coif). He holds his PhD in Environmental Management from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a Master of Science in Public Health-Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa where he majored in chemistry and mathematics.
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Dr, Schnare, I appreciate the balanced viewpoint framing your piece on watermelon politics. Although I lack specific facts to support a plain assertion, I suspect that one could extend your argument to infer that the greening directives are not only inherently ineffective and wasteful, but that the procurement and contract award processes should be monitored closely for fair bidding practices and performance-based quality control. Enforcing green building standards is commendable, in some ways, but let us back up one step and question the need to engage in any construction at all, given the current economic environment. Common sense would argue that the net energy used to produce a building, green or not, amounts to several tons of CO2-equivalent created in a span of months, whereas the net savings in energy use achieved by using green construction techniques is measured in small percentages over years compared to conventional construction. Far better to implement some sensible retrofitting of existing buildings and practices across the government and place more emphasis on residential energy savings, by providing tax`credits to homeowners that purchase efficient appliances, windows and insulation. Not only would we significantly reduce energy demand, but also put some tradesmen and retailers to work, stoking the private sector economy where most help is needed. As far as making an impact on the global climate, one might look beyond the alarmists’ pratter and see that, while Virginia may not be showing signs of higher average temperatures, there is clearly something going on as evidenced by melting icepack and glaciers, along with other observations that require some scrutiny before simply dismissing them based on partisan dogma. Within that context, Gov. Kaine’s directive will do little in the face of a requirement to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 by a large percentage by a certain date. But where China is concerned, why not go on the offensive and take the lead in demonstrating that American innovation and enterprise can deliver a leaner, more efficient energy profile and develop value to both the consumers and industries alike? Not by building expensive offices to satisfy some elitist intellectual class but rather by investing in transportation, infrastructure, telecommuting, and intelligent community development, getting people out of their cars and onto their feet and put our manufacturing sector back to work. And even if we do manage to extract a good measure of oil from the sea bed, sooner or later the oil will run out, along with coal and other materials that only mother nature can create. It is for this reason that we can set aside the squabbles over global warming and the cost of going green. If America is going to retain our position of power within the community of nations, it will not be because we found ways to extract and burn more fuel than China or Russia, but rather because we found ways to use our energy supply more productively, advancing our technology and way of life, to be a strong and healthy nation in the face of global instability. This takes leadership, which brings us back to your point regarding watermelon politics.
Interesting. I am interested to see what direction this takes.
As an Energy Assessor, such news articles from around the world are very important for my business. It helps me understand what way my business is going to go in the future. And at present, with all the emphasis on reducing Energy Consumption and CO2 emissions, its great for my business…as well as for the environment.
Ian.